Perennial Vegetables. Plant once and eat for decades! Beth Doerr ECHO Symposium, Arusha

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1 Perennial Vegetables Plant once and eat for decades! Beth Doerr ECHO Symposium, Arusha

2 Perennial Vegetables Perennials: plants that live for at least 3 years Vegetables: edible and tasty and typically savory (as opposed to fruits that are sweet)

3 Perennial Vegetables Benefits: Produce continually Low maintenance Healthy ecosystem Build soil Ornamental Multi-purpose

4 Perennial Vegetables Trees & Shrubs: Baobab Cassava Chaya Cranberry Hibiscus Edible Hibiscus Katuk Moringa Papaya Pigeon Pea Prickly Pear Cactus Vines & Small Plants Chayote Chufa / Tigernut Garlic Chives Groundnut Malabar Spinach New Zealand Spinach Okinawa Spinach Sweet potato Tropical Lettuce Water Spinach

5 Top 20 Leafy Vegetables by Protein Source: World Vegetables, Second Edition, Chapman & Hall, 1997, Appendix C

6 Perennial Vegetables Out of the 273 total plants listed in the World Vegetables Book (by Rubatzky & Yamaguchi) the top 4 leafy plants by protein content are: 1.Katuk 2.Cassava 3.Moringa 4.Chaya Perennial Perennial Perennial Perennial

7 Katuk (Sauropus androgynous) Can be eaten raw or cooked New growth, flowers and small fruits used for food Greens retain color and firmness when cooked Very popular in South and SE Asia Humid tropics Can grow in shady, humid areas

8 Katuk (Sauropus androgynous) 100g serving of fresh katuk leaves supplies 22% of the daily requirement for vit A Fresh katuk is a substantial souce of vit C (138%) Minimal cooking for improved bioavailability Assits aborption of Fe Source of Ca and Fe (elements often lacking in diets that do not contain enough milk). One of few vegetables containing vit K Highest protein and calorie content of any leafy vegetable listed in the World Vegetables book

9 Katuk Sauropus androgynous Altitude: m Rainfall: no flood / no drought Temperatures: 25-35C Daylength: neutral Growth Habit: bush Propagation: cuttings (or seed) Life Cycle: perennial

10 Cassava (Manihot esculenta) Originated in Brazil and Paraguay Introduced to Africa by Portuguese traders more than 400 years ago Perennial woody shrub typically grown as annual Roots contain nearly maximum theoretical concentration of starch on a dry weight basis Provides one of the highest yields of food energy per cultivated area per day Stephen K. O'Hair, TREC, University of Florida

11 Cassava Leaves (Manihot esculenta) Leaves are very nutritious High in protein, vit A, and Fe Roots can be left in ground until needed while consuming leaves Does well on poor soils and low rainfall Tolerates low ph and high AL Does not tolerate flooding Does not tolerate saline soils

12 Cassava Manihot esculenta Altitude: m Rainfall: mm Temperatures: 18-35C Daylength: neutral Growth Habit: shrub Propagation: cuttings (or seed) Life Cycle: annual / perennial

13 Moringa Native to India, Red Sea area and parts of Africa M. oleifera most widely known of the 13 Moringa species M.peregrina and M.stenopetala drought tolerant All parts of plant useful

14 Moringa Pods can be eaten when young Mature seeds used to purify water Mature seeds contain high quality oil Seed extract used as antibiotic Bark used to make mats, rope, & blue dye Roots used in various traditional remedies Flowers used to make a tea (good for sinuses) Leaves are very nutritious

15 Moringa Leaves Leaves can be eaten fresh, cooked or dried Leaves good source of vit A, vit C, B vitamins, Ca, Fe, K, protein, and the essential amino acids

16 Moringa Moringa oleifera Altitude: 0-600m Rainfall: mm Temperatures: 25-35C Daylength: neutral Growth Habit: tree Propagation: seed or cuttings Life Cycle: perennial

17 Chaya (Cnidoscolus chayamansa or C. aconitifolius) Native to Mexico Slightly woody shrub up to 6m tall Very high yielding Leaves and terminal stems highly nutritious Grows in difficult conditions

18 Chaya should always be cooked Young leaves and tender stems are cut into pieces and then cooked like cassava leaves High content of protein, vit A, vit B, Ca, and Fe

19 Chaya Cnidoscolus chayamansa Altitude: m Rainfall: rainy to arid Temperatures: 21-35C Daylength: neutral Growth Habit: bush Propagation: cuttings Life Cycle: perennial

20 Perennial Vegetables Trees & Shrubs: Baobab Cassava Chaya Cranberry Hibiscus Edible Hibiscus Katuk Moringa Papaya Pigeon Pea Prickly Pear Cactus Vines & Small Plants Chayote Chufa / Tigernut Garlic Chives Groundnut Malabar Spinach New Zealand Spinach Okinawa Spinach Sweet potato Tropical Lettuce Water Spinach

21 Baobab (Adansonia digitata) Native to Africa, India and Australia Trees reach up to 30m tall and 11m in diameter Leaves, fruits and seeds are edible Drought tolerant

22 Baobab (Adansonia digitata) Leaves are edible and used fresh or dried into a powder Fruit and seeds are edible and used in various beverages and snacks Tree has many uses, including fiber, dye and fuel Trees can store 120,000 liters of water to enable them to survive droughts

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24 Chufa/Tigernut (Cyperus esculentus) One of the worst weeds for more than 30 countries in the world but also: One of the oldest cultivated plants of ancient Egypt Member of the sedge family One plant can produce over 1000 edible tubers in a single growing season Grows in difficult conditions

25 Chufa/Tigernut (Cyperus esculentus) Tubers contain starch, fat, sugar, protein, phosphorus, potassium, and vitamins E and C. Tubers contain almost twice the quantity of starch as potato or sweet potato tubers. Tubers can be consumed raw, roasted, dried, baked, ground into flour, as a drink (horchata) or oil. not bad for one of the world s worst weeds

26 Favorite Florida Perennial Vegetables Katuk Chaya Cassava Moringa Basket Vine Cranberry Hibiscus Tropical Lettuce Okinawa Spinach Malabar Spinach Garlic Chives

27 What are your favorite Perennial Vegetables?